John Altman & Friends

Emmy and BAFTA (Anthony Asquith) Award winning composer/saxophonist John Altman brings his all-star quintet plus surprise guests back to the PizzaExpress Holborn for a sparkling session of jazz and stories from his long, successful career. Previous guests at his Evenings at Holborn have included Sir Michael Palin, Sir Lenny Henry, Dame Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter, Bradley Walsh, Adrian Dunbar, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Rob Brydon and Goldie so expect some surprises! His connection with PizzaExpress Live stretches back 50 years , when he sat in on the opening night of the Jazz Room in Dean Street!

John Altman is a composer, music arranger, orchestrator, conductor and saxophonist. Among the 50 plus movies he composed, arranged and conducted for are Titanic (period music), Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Goldeneye, winning a BAFTA (Anthony Asquith) Award for Hear My Song and a Golden Globe for orchestrating Sheltering Sky and Léon: The Professional. He also won an Emmy for his score for RKO281, was nominated for Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and received a nomination for the Golden Reel award for Little Voice. His recent work includes the last James Bond movie No Time to Die, for which he arranged and conducted at the request of Hans Zimmer.

In addition to writing a 100-minute score for the silent movie Shooting Stars for the London Film Festival Gala, John has his name as an arranger on 19 platinum records, including a Diamond Disc for 10,000,000 US sales for George Michael's album “Faith”, which won several GRAMMYs in 1989 including Album of the Year. He wrote for Simple Minds, Barry White, Tina Turner, Björk, Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Pretenders, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson, Prefab Sprout and has scored over 4,000 commercials worldwide (including classic campaigns for B & Q and Sheila's Wheels!). He arranged and produced Aled Jones' classic Walking in the Air and hosted a BBC Radio documentary this Xmas celebrating 40 years since the release of the single. For Television he arranged and conducted the music for the Miss Marple series starring Joan Hickson and won the TRIC Award for Peak Practice.

As an in-demand woodwind player, he has played with artists as diverse as Prince, Nick Drake, Muddy Waters, Peter Green, Bob Marley, Kevin Ayers, Amy Winehouse (whom he mentored) and was musical director for Hot Chocolate and Van Morrison. As a jazz musician he has led his big band in the UK, USA and Australia and played with Chet Baker, Slim Gaillard, Quincy Jones, Bud Freeman, Les McCann, Jeff Goldblum and many others. He has four Lifetime Achievement Awards, five GRAMMY participation certificates, and an honorary doctorate in music from the University of Sussex. His autobiography Hidden Man was published in February 2022, and his audiobook has just been completed.